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The Blackest Bird: A Novel of Murder in Nineteenth-Century New York

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In 1841, New York City is bound in a unique social construct, the city teeming with Americans of every walk of life, the very wealthy, the great working class and a rich pool of literary talent, all juxtaposed with newspapers that fight for readership, corrupt backroom politics and gangs of leatherheads who compete as fire brigades, the city a microcosm of a rapidly changing world. One impressive figure, Jacob Hays, High Commissioner of New York City for forty-two years, is notably the city's first detective, at the time sixty-nine years old, with no plans for retirement in spite of his advancing years. His office located in the newly built prison, the euphemistically named "Tombs", "Old Hays" has his finger on the pulse of the city as a series of murders give the newspapers no end of speculation.

The most notorious murder is that of Mary Rogers, a woman with many admirers who has graced a local tobacconist's shop that serves as a gathering place for such luminaries as James Fennimore Cooper, Washington Irving, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe, all of whom reflect the bizarre balance of dramatic Victorian fiction, poetry and a journalism defined by sensationalism. The city's appetite whetted by the brutal murder of the striking young woman, another outrageous crime focuses attention on the unexpected slaying of writer/publisher Charles Adams by John C Colt, brother of the inventor of the Colt revolver, an influential family. After his trial Colt is sentenced to die, his quarters in the Tombs markedly different from the other prisoners, attended to by a manservant, his cell obscured by draperies, meals delivered by the finest restaurants.

Across from Colt on death row is yet another condemned man, Tommy Coleman, leader of the Forty Little Thieves, one of the infamous gangs that create havoc in the poorest part of the city, Five Points. Tommy is charged with killing his wife, a hot corn girl, and her little daughter, although he insists they were murdered by the woman's former lover, Ruby Pearl. Tommy's insists his only crime, is killing Pearl after finding him by the slaughtered bodies. From the lowest echelon of society, Tommy's prospects are bleak. It is Old Hays task to ferret out the truth of these crimes and he applies himself with his usual mental vigor; unfortunately a fire in the prison complicates the pursuit of justice.

One of the most pivotal characters in the novel is the aggrieved Edgar Allen Poe, who interviews both Colt and Coleman while they are incarcerated and brings suspicion upon himself. Fascinated by the study of physiognomy, Hays believes a man's face is reflective of his character. To Hays, Poe is both an interesting and suspicious person; their lives become a series of contretemps, especially once Poe writes a chilling narrative of Mary Roger's murder as a thinly-veiled fiction in a local magazine. Blending the criminal element with the literary ambitions and expanding world of publishing, Rose has created a unique blend of crime and literature, unchecked passions and one author's steady decline while grappling with the self-destructive nature his particular talent. From thugs and murderers to the luxurious boardrooms of the powerful, Hays remains undeterred, shadowed by the sad and desperate life of the shattered genius of the author of "The Raven". Luan Gaines/ 2007.

On the surface, The Blackest Bird is about a murder, introducing readers to rich characters and a gritty, budding New York, but the drama unfolds to reveal at its heart, the literary figure of Edgar Allan Poe. Many a novel has attempted to fictionalize Poe with varying results, but Joel Rose has probably been the most successful in painting the proper patchwork of ego, madness and genius without having the poet come off as a pure fop. Rose is able to cast the reader back to a simpler and darker time filled with corruption and politics, scandal and decorum with the careful turn of a phrase and execution of dialogue. The story is an intriguing mystery filled with shadows and ultimately vague yet plausible answers that hang in the air of the fiction, to beckon consideration to the aspects borrowed from reality. Its only vice is that it may have held the suspense just a shade too long.

Full of actual historical figures from Old New York, this novel focuses mainly on two actual murders that took place in 1841 New York City -- a city full of gangs, political corruption, social discontent, and an inflammatory news press. How these murders touched the lives of the rich and famous and raised hue and cry all over the city is explored in the novel.

Halfway through, however, the novel suddenly shifts focus from the murders and murderers to Edgar Allan Poe, now a suspect for the murder of Mary Rogers. As a known acquaintance to murderer, John Colt, brother of Samuel Colt (of firearms fame) and to the murdered cigar store girl Mary Rogers, and as author of The Mystery of Marie Roget (based on the murder of the cigar girl), Poe gets the attention of veteran High Constable John Hays. Readers are now able to examine the life of Poe and his consumptive, child-wife, Sissy, always on the edge of poverty, eking out a meager subsistence on his writing - but is he a murderer? Hays, with his interest in 'physiognomy', seems to think he might be.

The Blackest Bird has an authentic flavor and is strong historical fiction. If you are fascinated by real-life murder cases, 19th century New York, or Poe, I would recommend it. It is interesting, entertaining, and obviously well-researched.

According to his acknowledgments, Joel Rose spent eighteen years writing THE BLACKEST BIRD, easy to believe since most of it is written in nineteenth century newspaper jargon. The following is a description of Jacob Hays, "Old Hays," High Constable of New York City: "Equipped solely with his long ash constable's staff, he would proceed from one to another, knocking the hat off the most vituperative, then, when said individual went to retrieve his aggrieved topper, sending him flying with a swift kick to the rump, effectively rendering his participation harmless." Rose was able to hold true to this recondite argot for 475 pages, a Herculean accomplishment in my mind.

THE BLACKEST BIRD refers to Edgar Allen Poe's nickname, The Raven. Poe is a major player in the narrative. At the beginning of the novel, Old Hays, now almost seventy, must deal with three murders, those of Mary Rogers, a "segar" store clerk, Samual Adams, publisher to John Colt brother of Samuel Colt of six-shooter fame, and the daughter and wife of gangster Tommy Coleman. The latter two are open-and-shut cases and both men wind up in the Tombs, notorious New York City prison. Edgar Allen Poe is a suspect in the Mary Rogers case, primarily because of a thinly-disguised short story he wrote about Mary, a former lover.

Joel Rose's portrayal of Edgar Allen Poe might strike some readers as suspect. He is depicted as a megalomaniac, not above plagiarism and blackmail. Towards the end of his life we see him pingponging back and forth between three different women, all of whom he asked to marry him. Somewhere in the cobwebs of my mind I remember a reference to a Poe biographer who hated him with a passion. Rose mentions two of Poe's must hated rivals, literary critic Rufus Griswald and newspaper publisher James Gordon Bennett. Rose insists, once more in his acknowledgments, that neither worked in concert against Poe, but apparently he believed every rumor he read about Poe, because he goes so far as to infer that Jacob Hays' daughter helped him write "The Bells" when Poe was suffering from brain fever.

THE BLACKEST BIRD lags in spots and the ending seems a bit rushed, but overall I enjoyed it. It's certainly more original than the serial killer rubbish we're constantly subjected to these days.

This is one of those irritating "historical" novels that have virtually nothing to do with actual history. To recap some of the more notable oddities: 1.Poe never had an affair with Mary Rogers--in fact, there is no reason to believe he ever so much as laid eyes on the woman. 2.There is also no evidence that Poe was ever unfaithful to his wife at all--with Fanny Osgood or anyone else. This fictional portrayal of Poe actually has practically no resemblance to the real man in any sense. 3.As the author himself rather shamelessly admits in his afterword, there is no evidence that the novel's murderer had, in reality, anything to do with his victim. Rose was certainly free to concoct any completely fictional scenarios he chose, but why did he have to tack the names of real people onto them? Is there no compunction anymore about libeling the dead? Has Rufus W. Griswold been transformed into a role model for some of these novelists? Ironically, the book would have been much more convincing if Rose had eschewed trying to use real people and had instead stuck to pure invention. The scenes where he simply describes the milieu of 1840s New York are the most successful in the entire novel.

To top it off, this novel is way too long, and extremely dull and pointless in spots. It was a real effort to get to the conclusion, and when I realized that it had nothing to do with the actual facts surrounding the Mary Rogers murder, I felt rather cheated. In short, I found the book to be a waste of time.